Best College Soccer Teams: Top 50 Current NCAA Women’s Programs (2022 Edition)
SoccerWire has provided an updated edition of the highest-ranked women’s college soccer programs in the United States.
With the 2022 NCAA soccer season quickly approaching, we take a look below at the best 50 programs in NCAA women’s soccer over the past 5 full seasons (not including 2020’s abbreviated “Covid” results) , based on their average position in the end-of-season rankings. Rankings are based on a combination of final United Soccer Coaches Polls and Rating Percentage Index (RPI) from each season, with bonuses awarded for NCAA Tournament qualification and College Cup victories.
One of the predominant ranking mechanisms used by the NCAA across various sports, RPI measures each team’s performance weighted against their strength of schedule, with wins over quality opponents playing a key role. Utilizing RPI data across multiple seasons, SoccerWire’s top 50 rankings heavily reward programs that consistently produce a high number of quality wins from year-to-year.
Headlining the list of the top 50 women’s soccer programs is reigning national champion Florida State, followed by North Carolina, UCLA, Stanford and Duke, comprising the top five.
See below for the full Top 50 rankings.
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1 |
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Florida State
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2 |
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North Carolina
|
3 |
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UCLA
|
4 |
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Stanford
|
5 |
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Duke
|
6 |
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USC
|
7 |
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South Carolina
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8 |
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Virginia
|
9 |
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Penn State
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10 |
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Santa Clara
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11 |
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Georgetown
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12 |
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Rutgers
|
13 |
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Arkansas
|
14 |
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West Virginia
|
15 |
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Wisconsin
|
16 |
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NC State
|
17 |
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Texas A&M
|
18 |
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Notre Dame
|
19 |
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BYU
|
20 |
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Washington State
|
21 |
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South Florida
|
22 |
|
Pepperdine
|
23 |
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Memphis
|
24 |
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Tennessee
|
25 |
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Princeton
|
26 |
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Clemson
|
27 |
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Auburn
|
28 |
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Florida
|
29 |
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Virginia Tech
|
30 |
|
TCU
|
31 |
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Texas
|
32 |
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Kansas
|
33 |
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Michigan
|
34 |
|
Wake Forest
|
35 |
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Monmouth
|
36 |
|
Texas Tech
|
37 |
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Vanderbilt
|
38 |
|
Hofstra
|
39 |
|
Oklahoma State
|
40 |
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Colorado
|
41 |
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Ole Miss
|
42 |
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Ohio State
|
43 |
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Baylor
|
44 |
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Cal
|
45 |
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Arizona
|
46 |
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Samford
|
47 |
|
Saint Louis
|
48 |
|
Northwestern
|
49 |
|
Milwaukee
|
50 |
|
South Alabama
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The Next Five: Alabama, SMU, Louisville, Utah, North Texas